What is the difference between tar sands and oil sands?
The term oil sands refers to a particular type of nonconventional oil deposit that is found throughout the world. Oil sands, sometimes referred to as tar sands, is a mixture of sand, clay, other minerals, water, and bitumen. The bitumen is a form of crude oil that can be separated out from the mixture.
Are they tar sands or oil sands?
What’s in a Name? The oil industry and the Alberta and federal governments prefer the term “oil sands,” while most opponents use the dirtier-sounding “tar sands.” Technically, both “tar sands” and “oil sands” are inaccurate.
What are some disadvantages of getting energy from tar sands and oil shale?
Cons
- Enormous GHG emissions.
- Relatively low net energy return compared to other sources.
- Large amounts of water required: roughly 3:1.
- Water pollution.
- Destructive to major boreal forest.
- Widespread habitat destruction, both on land and water.
- Requires expensive and risky pipelines.
Why are they called the tar sands and oil sands?
The resource is technically known as bituminous sands because bitumen, a heavy petroleum product, is mixed with the sand. It makes sense to describe the resource as oil sands because oil is what is finally derived from the bitumen. ‘Oil’ is more accurate than ‘tar’ to describe the naturally occurring bitumen deposits.
What is the difference between tar sands and oil shale?
Oil shale is a form of sedimentary rock that contains kerogen, which is released as a petroleum-like liquid when the rock is heated. Tar sands are a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen, which is a heavy hydrocarbon. Like the kerogen in oil shale, tar sands’ bitumen can be upgraded to synthetic crude oil.
What is the difference between shale oil and tar sands?
Oil shale is a form of sedimentary rock that contains kerogen, which is released as a petroleum-like liquid when the rock is heated. Tar sands are a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen, which is a heavy hydrocarbon.
What are tar sands and oil shale quizlet?
What are tar sands and oil shale? geologic structures that contain low-grade hydrocarbons mixed with clay, sand, or shale.
What is bitumen and why is it important to oil sand mining?
Bitumen is made of hydrocarbons—the same molecules in liquid oil—and is used to produce gasoline and other petroleum products. Extracting bitumen from tar sands—and refining it into products like gasoline—is significantly costlier and more difficult than extracting and refining liquid oil.
What are tar sands pros and cons?
- Very large supply. Second largest oil field in the world.
- Economically recoverable at today’s oil prices.
- Will help keep oil prices relatively low.
- Enormous growth potential.
- Big economic driver in Alberta.
- Stable source country (a rarity for oil)
- GHG emissions could potentially be minimized through CCS.
How is bitumen refined?
Refining bitumen generally requires a process called coking. Coking removes the excess carbon in the bitumen and distils it into a solid substance similar to coal called petroleum coke or petcoke.
What can tar sands bitumen be used for?
Bitumen has long been used in waterproofing materials for buildings, and is most familiar today as the binding agent in road asphalt. However, most of the bitumen produced from tar sands is refined and mixed with lighter oils to produce synthetic crude oil that can be further refined and used in much the same way as typical crude oil. [3]
What kind of oil is in tar sands?
Tar sands are a combination of clay, sand, water and bitumen, which is a heavy hydrocarbon. Like the kerogen in oil shale, tar sands’ bitumen can be upgraded to synthetic crude oil.
How much bitumen is in the Alberta oil sands?
The exact composition of Alberta’s oil sands can vary greatly, even within the same geological formation. A typical oil sands deposit contains about 10% bitumen, 5% water and 85% solids. However, the bitumen content can be as high as 20% in some areas.
How are bitumen and sand intermixed in the oil sands?
Conventional wisdom was that the grains of sand were covered with a water layer, although this theory has been largely debunked. The water, sand, clays and bitumen are intermixed within the oil sands deposit. BITUMEN EXPLAINED. Bitumen is a highly viscous, complex hydrocarbon contained within the oil sands deposit.
